


A cup of tea and a good night's sleep

by ivyness



Series: AU Yeah August 2018 [16]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, F/F, au yeah august
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-06-28 14:37:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15709221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivyness/pseuds/ivyness
Summary: Mantis knew





	A cup of tea and a good night's sleep

**Author's Note:**

> In the second Guardians of the Galaxy movie I hated that bit where Drax called Mantis ugly and disgusting. Why would you say hurtful things to a person who had been kidnapped and isolated for their whole life? In what universe is that funny? It felt like a slap in the face that someone thought it'd be hilarious to mock a character for their ignorance and then turn it around and say well it's your fault for not knowing. I don't know how this fic turned out since I just had too many feelings trying to write it but I hope some of it comes through. Otherwise: Mantis was never ignorant. She knew, she always knew.

Why do you let them say those things to you? Why don’t you fight back?

It’s not worth it.

But you’re hurting

He is not malicious, he just doesn’t understand

And how is that your problem? You shouldn’t be expected to smile and bear abuse because of their ignorance.

Maybe. But not now, not today. You are incredibly strong. To get up and fight, day after day. But I am tired. Too tired to look out on the world and see it’s insults. For now I will leave the battles to you my brave warrior, and be here to mend your wounds.

Do not for a moment think yourself weak. I have spent too long locked in this fight that I no longer know how to turn it off. I didn't mean to insult you, I just worry.

I know, and I love you too.

*********

Natasha didn’t trust the new girl. Mantis had only moved in yesterday and already she seemed to be friends with the whole building. A girl with a smile that wide was either hiding a body in the closet or naive enough to bleed rainbows. Natasha saw some of the plants the girl brought into her apartment, some of them were toxic enough to wipe out the whole city block. So, no, Natasha definitely did not trust the new girl and she made damn sure that Clint’s dog knew to stay the hell away from her room.

*********

You have been greatly abused

Most women have. They just don’t like to admit it

Small abuses maybe.

The small abuses add up; they’re just not as obvious and so they’re left untreated, to fester.

Some things aren’t worth fighting over.

You are. You will always be worth fighting over.

*********

Natasha kept weird hours. She didn’t get night terrors like Clint or get engrossed in her work like Tony and she absolutely did not brood like Steve. The Red Room had trained her to not need a lot of sleep. So she’d go to bed at a reasonable hour and lie awake in bed and pretend to be a normal person. Sometimes she was able to convince herself that it was true.

On the nights when stillness was out of reach, she’d patrol, competent and unseen, despite feeling like she was about to crawl out of her own skin. It was on just such a night, long after even Tony had decided to go to bed, that she spotted Mantis down in the courtyard.

Maybe she was drugged, possibly she was sleep deprived. Probably it was because Mantis looked so breakable carefully handling the petals of a flower toxic enough to poison an elephant. Natasha stepped out of the shadows and went to make sure the girl wasn’t stupid enough to plant the thing in the courtyard. It was definitely not because Natasha had a type.

*********

I don’t want to make you fight all my battles. That’s not fair.

Since when has life ever been fair?

It is being fair, right here, right now, when I’m telling you that you don’t have to carry my burden for me.

And if carrying it helps with my pain?

Then you can help me carry it but only if you let me help you too.

This batch smells like dirty dishwater.

Just drink the damn tea.

*********

Natasha didn’t like the Guardians of the Galaxy. They were nice enough and certainly amusing to watch but she was only able to live in the same apartment as them because they spent the majority of their time on the far side of the city. That meant early mornings and late evenings and Natasha could avoid them the rest of the time.

Natasha knew how to deal with Quill, she had dealt with too many men exactly like him; Rocket too for all that he was a raccoon. She and Gamora would just sort of nod to each other from a distance and stay the hell out of each other’s business. Groot, she liked. Drax, on the other hand, was a completely different story.

She kept her distance from Drax for the same reason she wasn’t completely comfortable around Thor, despite coming to consider the Asgardian a friend. They were just too alien. She couldn’t quite get her head around them and couldn’t figure out how to act - what person to be - around them.

Drax was also just an asshole. She didn’t appreciate it when men called women hideous, ugly, disgusting. She hated it when women were made to believe that they should be grateful to bear abuse; to bear it with a smile and a “thank you”. She stepped in because Drax was an asshole. She definitely didn’t interfere because she saw the wobble in Mantis’s smile.

*********

You don’t sleep well at night

No. But neither do you.

I can help you sleep.

I know.

Teas and incense and medicines they’re great but not a cure all. There used to be someone - he made me - I would stay up through the night to help him stay asleep.

I wouldn’t make you do that.

I wouldn’t let you.

Then why are you trying to help me sleep?

Because you need it.

But why does it have to be you?

Because I’m good at it. This ability, this strength, it’s mine and if I don’t use it somebody else will.

Teach me.

What?

Just this one thing. 

Why?

We’ll do it together. Whoever wakes up first will see the other one through the night. That way at least one of us get a full night’s rest.

There’s no way that’ll work.

But you’re going to try anyway.

*********

Natasha never moved in with Mantis. She kept her own apartment, her own space, her own life, and her own stuff. Natasha had spent too long without anything to call her own to ever be comfortable with sharing with another person. They went mattress shopping and bought two queen beds, one for each apartment.

When the night crawled underneath her skin and she couldn’t find peace, Natasha would make a cup of tea and wait until Mantis woke up to drink it with her. They certainly didn’t live out of two apartments together and they definitely weren’t dating. Natasha definitely was not, might have been, maybe was just a little bit, in love.

*********

Why do you let them hurt you like that?

Why are you always alone?

Ha, cute.


End file.
